Spousal benefits calculation when my SS retirement is double my husband's SSDI amount

The spousal benefit is generally up to 50% of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA), but there are special rules when one spouse is on disability. Since your benefit at FRA will be around $2,900, the maximum spousal benefit would be $1,450. However, since your husband already receives $1,450 on his own SSDI record, he wouldn't receive any spousal top-up because his own benefit is already equal to the maximum spousal amount he could receive based on your record.

Thanks for the replies. So I need to find out what my husband's PIA is, not just his current payment? I thought his SSDI payment WAS his PIA. This is so confusing! Where can we find his actual PIA figure to do this calculation correctly?

my wife gets ssdi and i retired last year. we went thru this EXACT same thing!!!! they told us no spousal benfit because her disability was more then half my retirement. but then they found an error in HER record and adjusted her ssdi up even more lol. so yeah check both your benefits but dont expect a topup with those numbers

I spent WEEKS trying to get through to someone at Social Security about a similar issue!!! Their phone system is a NIGHTMARE and kept disconnecting me after waiting for over an hour!!! I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an agent in under 5 minutes. Saved me so much frustration! They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - totally worth it for complicated questions like spousal benefits that you can't figure out online.

Here's the technical explanation: When your husband became entitled to disability, his benefit was set at 100% of his PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). When you file for retirement, he becomes potentially eligible for spouse's benefits. SSA will pay the higher of: his own SSDI benefit or the combination of his own benefit plus a partial spousal benefit. The partial spousal benefit would be the difference between his PIA and 50% of your PIA (if positive). In your case, if his PIA is $1,450 and yours is $2,900, then 50% of yours is $1,450. Since they're equal, there's no top-up.

To answer the question about finding the PIA, there are three ways: 1) Call SSA directly, 2) Check the my Social Security account online under benefit details, or 3) Look at the award letter he received when first approved for disability - it should list the PIA there. The PIA is essentially what his retirement benefit would be at his full retirement age.

My husband was on disability and I got retirement and they didn't give us any extra. They said since his disability was already more than half my amount he didn't qualify for anything more. But the rules change all the time so definitely double check with them directly!

doesn't the age matter too? i thought if he's not at retirement age yet then the spousal benefit calculation might be different? my cousin got less because she took it early

Did u check if its better for u to file for spousal off HIS record? sometimes that works out better if u do the math

Thanks everyone for all the helpful information! I think I understand now that since my benefit will be about double his, and his SSDI is likely equal to his PIA, he probably won't qualify for any spousal top-up. I'll definitely verify his exact PIA figure though. I appreciate all the explanations - this stuff is so complicated!

You're welcome! Just to add one more thing - even though it looks like your husband won't get a spousal top-up based on the numbers you've shared, it's still worth having SSA run the calculation when you file for retirement benefits. Sometimes there can be small differences in how benefits were calculated originally, or other factors that aren't immediately obvious. Plus, once you start receiving retirement benefits, your husband will automatically be checked for spousal eligibility, so you don't have to do anything extra to make sure he gets the maximum he's entitled to.